


I See You (And You're Perfect)

by Writers_Muse



Series: One-Shots (And Two-Shots) ^_^ [2]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: AU, Adrinette, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Aged Up, Alternate Universe - Never Met, Alya's Matchmaking Service, Blind Date, F/M, Fluff, LadyNoir - Freeform, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-26
Updated: 2019-02-26
Packaged: 2019-11-05 21:00:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,329
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17926274
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Writers_Muse/pseuds/Writers_Muse
Summary: Chat Noir and Ladybug love each other, but can't be together as heroes.  Chat promises he will know his lady when he sees her, and one day Adrien meets Marinette.





	I See You (And You're Perfect)

**Author's Note:**

> Ok, so this is a one-shot, but it's an AU where Adrien never went to school, and doesn't know Marinette, but he does know Nino (from all his times sneaking out as a teenager). They're also a bit older- young adults. Chat Noir and Ladybug are aware they love each other, but for identity and safety reasons, can't be together as heroes. Chat is adamant he will recognize his lady if he ever meets her out of costume, and then one day he does.  
> Because what if Adrien really did recognize Ladybug as a civilian?
> 
> Special thanks to EpicLilKitty for beta-ing this one-shot! Senpai notices you, MBK! ^_^

Ladybug chuckled deep, trying her best and hardest to keep from laughing out loud.

“Oh, Chaton.  Let’s just say if you ever saw me outside the suit, you wouldn’t even know it was me.  I’m madly clumsy and _soo_ uncoordinated, it’s ridiculous.”

Chat Noir gave his partner a devilish smirk, and she rolled her eyes in fond exasperation.

“What’s that, bugaboo?  If I find you in real life, you’re saying you’d fall for me?”

Good-naturedly (and without any real force), Ladybug shoved her partner.  Chat put up no resistance, letting himself be knocked over onto his side on the rooftop.

“Chat Noir!  You stupid cat!” the scarlet hero exclaimed, half-laughing and half-serious.  “You’re going to fall off the roof like that!”

Grin still splitting his face, the blond man shrugged, righting himself easily as his legs hung over the side of the ledge.

“I’m a cat, my lady.  We always land on our feet!”

Ladybug only shook her head.

“What am I going to do with you, Chaton?”

It was like the words were out of her mouth before she even thought about them, and then she couldn’t take them back.

Leaning closer to her, devastatingly gorgeous and roguish half-grin on his face, the black-clad hero whispered in her ear: “ _Anything you want, my lady._ ”

Holding in a squawk and trying to temper the flush of her face, she quickly stood to her feet, ready to launch away from her inevitable embarrassment (courtesy of her train-wreck mouth), but Chat was up quickly beside her.

“My lady, wait,” he said, voice suddenly serious and a hand to her arm.  “I meant what I said. I know you think we can’t have anything between us as superheroes, but if I found you, would you give me a chance?”

Ladybug searched Chat’s eyes, torn.  She wanted to say yes, but she didn’t want to give him hope that would only turn around and disappoint them both.

“ _Chat_ ,” she said, her voice cracking very similar to her heart, “you know what the chances are of that.  Paris is huge. There are millions of people-”

“I don’t care about that, my lady.  I believe we’re meant to be together.  If it takes me forever, I swear I _will_ find you.”

Lifting a hand, the spotted superhero caressed his cheek.

“Chat, we could go our entire lives and never cross paths.  And even if we did, how would you know it was me?”

The man’s face was overtaken by his trademark smirk, softened only slightly by the love shining in his eyes.

“My lady, I’d know you anywhere.”

* * *

Chat’s words played through Marinette’s head for days, then weeks, then months.  Try as she might, she just _couldn’t_ forget them.  And, against every rational thought and force of will she could muster, she couldn’t let go of the sliver of hope they inspired in her.

Her Chaton was looking for her- he would find her- he swore.  So how was it that her head _knew_ that was statistically near impossible, yet her heart wouldn’t listen?

He was a black cat, of all things.  The embodiment of bad luck. Yet, she couldn’t let the ember of hope die.

Even now, the words played over and over in her head as she walked toward the glass doors of the cafe.  Alya had set her up on a blind date- against her wishes and better judgment- but she found it impossible to refuse.  Alya shot down every excuse she could think of to avoid it, and eventually Marinette found herself worn down.

Walking in through the doors, Marinette steeled herself for an awkward hour or two.

* * *

Adrien resisted the urge to groan into the phone.  Nino had been trying to pressure him into this blind date for months, and he had always firmly declined.  Now, it seemed, he had been set up. When he arrived at the restaurant, he expected to meet Nino, only to receive a message essentially telling him that Nino wasn’t coming and this was for his own good.

Adrien didn’t care how beautiful or perfect this girl was supposed to be.  He wanted his lady, and Nino couldn’t know, much less understand, that. With not a little irritation, Adrien lifted his phone to his ear and dialed his currently-not-best bro.

The voice when the line picked up, though, was not Nino’s

“Well, hello, sunshine.  Can I help you?”

“Alya.  Put Nino on,” he demanded, fidgeting with the collar of his jacket in annoyance.

“Uh, I’m sorry, but Nino can’t come to the phone right now.  Can I take a message?”

Adrien sighed heavily.

“Yea.  You can tell my little weasel of a friend that I’m not ok with being played, and there’s no way in hell I’m going through with this date.  I’m leaving.”

Alya was quiet for a moment.

“Have you left yet?”

“What?”  Adrien found himself taken aback at the question.

“I said, have you left yet?”

The blond man hesitated, knowing the answer to that question would only encourage her, but unable to find it in himself to lie.

“Well… no, I haven’t  But only because I’m not going to stand a girl up, even if it wasn’t my idea to do this in the first place.  Once she gets here, I’ll explain the situation, apologize, and be on my way.”

“Mmhmm.   You do that sunshine.  You call me _as soon_ as you leave, mmkay?”

Adrien’s eyes narrowed.

“I don’t get it.  You’re not even trying to talk me out of it.”

Alya’s throaty chuckle carried through the line.

“That’s because I know you, and I know my girl, and I know that as soon as you lay eyes on Mari, you’re not going to be able to talk past the actual hearts your going to start swallowing when you see how perfect she is.”

“Alya- that doesn’t matter.  I could be Eros and she could be Psyche, and I still wouldn’t be interested.  So let me say this loud and clear. No more meddling. I’m. Not. Interested.”

And wasn’t it just his black cat luck that as he said those words, turning anxiously in circles, a small, petite woman with blue-black hair and gorgeous blue eyes stepped into his field of vision, hand extended as though reaching to shake his own.

Adrien stood there, gaping, wishing he could _actually_ put his foot in his mouth, and wondering if that would be less awful.  Her sky-blue orbs stared back at him, wide and surprised, as she drew her hand back.

“ _Shit._ ”

Alya voice came through the phone, but he didn’t hear it.  “Adrien? What’s going on? Adrien are you the-”

Her voice was lost as Adrien ended the call, slowly raising his hands as he tried to defuse the situation.

“You must be Mari,” he tried.

Her eyes took him in, expression blank.

“Marinette,” she corrected.

“Right.  Marinette.  Sorry.” Adrien mentally kicked himself, trying to get up the courage to tell her (as if she didn’t know already) that he wasn’t planning on going through with the date.

“Look,” Marinette beat him to it, surprising the blond model.  “I’m only here because my friend forced me to come, and from what I just overheard, I’m assuming the situation is the same for you.”

Adrien found he could only nod dumbly in reply.  Something about her was so oddly familiar, he couldn’t stop staring.

“Right.  Well, if it’s ok with you, I’m just going to tell Alya that we went through with this date, and take off.  It was nice to meet you, uh….”

“Adrien,” he finished for her.

“Right.  Adrien. It’s nothing personal, I just already have someone else.  It was… nice to meet you, though, and I wish you the best.”

He couldn’t tear his eyes away.  He knew Alya said she was beautiful, and he was no stranger to pretty girls (uh, hello, _model_ ), so he couldn’t explain why he was so captivated by the woman standing in front of him.

The woman standing in front of him.

She was starting to blush, no doubt affected by his staring, and getting more uncomfortable by the minute.

“Ohhhkay, then,” she finally said, then shook her head as though confused, and turned to leave.  Her back to him, Marinette made her way toward the exit, Adrien’s gaze fixed to her retreating form.

He knew that gait.  He knew that profile.  He knew that hair, those eyes, _that voice._  

The man’s eyes blew impossibly wide, his jaw nearly falling open in his shock and awe.

And, just like Alya predicted, he couldn’t speak around the lump in his throat.

Finally, just as she started to push the door open, he shouted, “Wait!”

Marinette- _Ladybug-_ turned around in surprise, blue eyes wide as saucers, pink lips parted.

He knew that mouth.

He had kissed it on more than one occasion.

“Wait, please, Ma-” he couldn’t even get her name out, torn as he was between calling her by her real name ( _Oh my God, I know her name!_ ), or the one he was so fond of calling her.

The love of his life simply stood there, still rooted to the ground, too surprised to move, as he walked toward her.

“ _Marinette_ ,” he breathed, “please, _wait_.”

“Umm, Adrien?”  Her blue eyes darted about the room, no doubt taking in the dozen or so patrons in the restaurant that had to undoubtedly be staring at them.  Adrien cleared his throat.

“Can we, uh, can we talk for a second?”  Her gaze flew to his, then back to the people behind them.  “Maybe outside?” Marinette nodded silently, confusion clear on her face as she pushed the door open the rest of the way, preceding him outside.

“I, uh, I just wanted to start by saying I’m sorry?  I’m _so sorry_ , and I hope someday you’ll forgive me, my lady.”

“Uh, sure, I guess, but- wait.”  Then she whirled on him, a hand on his arm to stop him in his tracks.  “ _What did you just call me?_ ”

It started as a half-smile, then grew into a full-blown grin.

“It’s nice to meet you, my lady.   _Finally._ ”

Recognition flashed in Marinette’s eyes, and she dropped his arm in shock.

“Chaton?”

Adrien walked closer, coming to stand mere inches from her as she gazed up at him in awe.

“I’m here, bugaboo.  I found you.” Slowly, cautiously so as not to alarm her, Adrien lifted his hands to cradle either side of her face, lowering his head as he held her eyes with his own.

Marinette grabbed his wrist in her fingers, breath catching, her focus flitting indecisively between his eyes and his lips.

“ _My kitty-_ ”  The rest of her sentence was lost forever as he cut her off, lips pressed up against her own.  Her arms came to wrap around his neck, and his reached down to grab her by the waist, pulling her as impossibly closer to himself as he could.  They were lost in each other for several minutes before a voice startled them into breaking apart.

“Holy shit, Nino!  Pay up!”

“Aww, damnit Adrien!  You just lost me 50 Euros!”

Marinette and Adrien, both flushed, lips bruised, and hair disheveled, whipped around to look at the only two people who those voices could belong to.

Alya’s smirk greeted them, right next to Nino’s glower.

“What?” the noirette asked, confused.

“Bow down before me, babe.  I’m the queen of matchmakers.”

“What’re you talking about?” Adrien asked beside her.  Marinette eeped, hiding her face in his chest.

The redhead watched them with a shit-eating grin.  

“Well, Monsieur Agreste, I guess now we know why you never called me back.”

* * *

Chat Noir chased Ladybug over the rooftops, vaulting jubilantly over the skyline, a chorus of whoops and cheers billowing out of him when he couldn’t contain them.

Ladybug’s heart-stopping smile matched his own as she swung about, clutching securely onto the line of her yo-yo.

Eventually they came to a stop on the roof of Notre Dame, the Ponts des Arts visible from their vantage point.

Chat Noir landed next to his lady in a crouch, lowering himself to wrap his arms and legs around her.  She hummed happily in response, cradling his arms with her own and leaning against his front.

“Chaton,” she broke the silence.  “You know we can’t be seen like this.”  The cat-themed hero kissed the side of her head.

“I know, bugaboo.  But let’s just have this.  Just for tonight. Then we’ll go back to being our professional superhero selves.  And I promise to only kiss you when we’re not wearing our suits.”

“Good,” she responded, then thought harder about his words.  Turning around, she noticed Chat waggling his eyebrows suggestively.  “Chaton!” she exclaimed, slapping his arm playfully. He laughed at her antics.

“I mean it, my lady.  Anytime you want to kiss, just let me know, and I’ll de-suit as quickly as possible.”

Ladybug shook her head fondly, wondering what on Earth she did to deserve this silly, adorable, and frankly hot as hell, man.  The thought of him outside of his _suit_ made her jittery with anticipation.

Chat placed featherlight kisses on her shoulder, working his way up to her neck and ear.

“ _Ch- Chat_ ,” she shuddered.  “Chat.”

The blond ceased his attentions, looking up at her with pupils blown.

“Did you really believe you would find me, when you said that all those months ago?”

“Oh, Lady, I’ve known since the first time I saw you, if I ever met you outside the mask, that I would _know you._  I dreamed about it for years, and believe me when I say, the reality is so much better than the fantasy.”  Ladybug watched him, silent and awed. Chat nuzzled her, breathing in her scent, before raising his eyes to meet hers.  Leaning closer, bringing their lips a breath apart, he lightly brushed them together, then pulled back just enough so he could say, “ _I see you, my lady, and you’re perfect._ ”

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed this one-shot! Thanks for reading! ^_^
> 
> Thoughts? Comments? Feedback?


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